Singing for the Moores

As Bart Moore belted along to “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” he flashed a big grin and waved along with his fellow singers. The goofy, extremely cheerful song from the movie “Monty Python’s Life of Brian,” which is punctuated by whistling, starts off something like this:

“Some things in life are bad,

They can really make you mad,

Other things just make you swear and curse,

When you’re chewing on life’s gristle,

Don’t grumble, give a whistle,

And this’ll help things turn out for the best.”

Moore’s grin was part showmanship — Jana Hart, Vancouver USA Singers’ director, told the choir to flash those pearly whites — but still genuine. He’s happily been part of Vancouver USA Singers since before it was even called that.

Coming to weekly practice has also been part of the healing process for Bart Moore, 60, and his wife, Val, 61, who lost their home in a fire on the Fourth of July. Their double-wide manufactured home and a neighboring home at Sunrise Acres mobile park were destroyed, along with nearly 40 years’ worth of the Moores’ belongings.

That day, the couple were returning from a funeral. They had changed clothes and were settling in to relax when Bart Moore heard a popping sound and then saw an orange glow out of the living room window. As he alerted Val, who has a hearing loss, a neighbor pounded on the door, yelling at them to get out, their house was on fire. While Bart made his way down the wheelchair ramp, Val tried to grab the bird cages, cats and computer. She didn’t have her shoes on and burned the soles of her feet, which took a few weeks to heal.

They got into the car and saw the home they had lived in for 11 years go up in flames. Clark County Deputy Fire Marshal Susan Anderson said the cause of the fire is still undetermined, though information gathered up to this point indicates it was started by fireworks.

“Unfortunately, no one has come forward and claimed responsibility for that fire,” Anderson said.

But the Moores kept looking on the bright side. They may have lost their home, but they’ve been living with wonderfully accommodating friends in Woodland. They may have lost two cats and three birds in the fire, but they still have the other two cats, and the rest of the birds are living in the floral shop on Mill Plain where Val works. (Pop into Coventry Gardens and the birds might sing you a song.) Despite everything going on, the Moores are able to attend Monday choir practice.

“It’s more normal that way,” Bart Moore said.

Monday’s Vancouver USA Singers rehearsal was preparation for a benefit concert happening this Sunday to help the Moores get back on their feet. The couple did not have homeowner’s insurance.

The concert happens to fall the day after their 40th wedding anniversary. The Moores had hoped to have a kind of open house on their anniversary, but that will have to wait another year, Val Moore said.

Bart Moore spends his days calling and researching apartment complexes. He’s found a few possible places to live, he said. Securing a place is no easy feat given the tight rental market and the Moores’ criteria. Living on Bart’s disability income and Val’s earnings as a florist, the place needs to be cheap. It also has to be wheelchair accessible for Bart, on the ground floor, and accept cats and birds.

“We’re hoping by Thanksgiving we’ll have a new place,” Bart Moore said.

During the concert, he’ll sing in the duet “All I Ask of You” from “The Phantom of the Opera.” Besides the Vancouver USA Singers’ volunteer mixed-voice chorus, also performing will be the bluegrass band Misty Mamas, jazz vocalist Darcy Schmitt, Clark County Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Tim Dawdy, Tony Rocci of the acoustic GTM String Band and Joe Lapidus of the bluegrass/Americana band Fadin’ by 9. There will also be pianist Laurie Chinn and her daughters, cellist Brita Horlings and Annika Horlings on clarinet.

Although there isn’t a specific fundraising goal in mind, the chorus hopes to raise enough money to get the Moores settled into an apartment and supplied with basic necessities.